U’s Head Coach Mark Bonner and Tuesday’s goal scorer George Williams sat down with local media this morning ahead of the U’s clash with Shrewsbury Town on Saturday…
Mark Bonner was first to face the media.
- On building momentum following two respectable home points…
“It is always easy in theory, but of course we want to try make sure we can follow up from two really good home points with some points on the road over the next couple of games.
“We thought the performance throughout the game on Tuesday was very good and I loved how we started the game – it is that kind of intensity and purpose that we played with that we have got to try and replicate as many games as we can.
“One of many things I will credit this team for is how they learn and develop. How they respond to challenging situations, like Saturday and Tuesday, is really important and we have done that continually in so many different ways.
“I am really pleased with how we did that on Tuesday, following a quick turnaround from Saturday, and now for us we have got try and find the real consistency as well as showing some real ambition over the next fortnight.”
- On the test of facing Shrewsbury Town…
“It will be a good test on Saturday against a team [Shrewsbury] whose home form is not too bad. The wins they have got have come at home this year so we know we will be tested. We will get some work done over the next two days to be as best prepared as we can before it.
“We cannot take any games for granted. We know that we are the new boys at this level, and we are competing with everybody. We have got to make sure that we go to Shrewsbury this weekend and are ready for a team that has got some very good individuals that can be a real threat on their day.
“They are a powerful and direct team with a manager with bags of experience. They've had some good results at home this year, so we have to find the level again that we found in the last two games.”
- Team News…
“Liam’s [O’Neil] had physio appointments, scans, ultrasounds and consultations all this week so hopefully we will get a time frame on that over the next few days.
“Wes [Hoolahan] is fit and available, he is back in training this morning and everybody else is good to go apart from being a little bit leggy and a little bit tired from Tuesday. They will all hopefully freshen up over the next couple of days.
“Jack [Lankester] is out running today so hopefully at some point next week he will be back in full training so Saturday and Tuesday’s games probably come too soon for him.”
Right back George Williams was next to sit down with the local press.
- On the Abbey atmosphere on Tuesday…
“The atmosphere was brilliant; I love Tuesday night games anyway so to play in such an atmosphere as well I just thrive off it. The place was bouncing when we scored and I am gutted we could not hold on to get all three points, that would have been huge.”
On Tuesday’s goal and performance…
“Really happy to get the goal, it was very similar to Millwall. We have been working on them a lot in training and it was an area we thought we could exploit. Jack’s [Iredale] delivery was great too.
“A point against Sheffield Wednesday is a really good point in hindsight and I think we have shown that we can mix the best of teams in this division.
“I think first half we caused them all sorts of problems and then got the goal finally. From there we thought we are always the tough team to breakdown so I thought we could maybe hold out a bit and then hit them on the counterattack, but unfortunately, they did get the goal.
“They [Sheffield Wednesday] have got a lot of quality players starting and coming off the bench so we knew it was going to be a tough night, but we knew if we could execute the game plan that the boss asked then we would have a good chance.”
On changing recent draws into wins going forward…
“We can take a lot of positives from some of the draws that we have got but a win makes all the difference, so if we can change a couple of those into three points I think it is going to stand us in really good stead.
“We know we are a hard team to beat, and we have got a goal in us so we want to try and change a few of those draws into wins, but you can definitely take a lot of positives especially as some of the draws were against real tough teams and during a really busy schedule.”